Photo credit: Todd Powell

The central region of Summit County offers meeting space in Silverthorne, Frisco and Dillon. This is an ideal and less expensive base camp for a Colorado mountain gathering. Not only are there plenty of event venues and meeting spaces, lodging properties and outdoor activities in these three towns, they provide easy access to the neighboring ski towns of Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Keystone.

This area is conveniently connected by roadways and the Blue River Trail from Silverthorne, which connects with the Summit County Recreational Pathway System that offers routes to Dillon, Keystone and Frisco for meeting breaks on bikes. In addition, Summit Stage offers free public transit within Summit County.

From its modest beginnings as a camp for workers building the Dillon Dam to its modern role as a bustling gateway to ski country, Silverthorne is coming into its own as a destination for groups. The 16,000-square-foot Silverthorne Performing Arts Center features theatre productions by Lake Dillon Theatre Company and provides a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces for groups.

The community’s restaurant scene also is rapidly evolving with the addition of the nearly 30,000-square-foot Bluebird Market food hall with nearly a dozen chef-driven culinary concepts. The 6,000-square-foot Summit Assembly Event at the food hall has become one of the major event spaces in Silverthorne, Frisco and Dillon and is located at Fourth Street Crossing, a 3.8-acre district in downtown Silverthorne.

Nearby and with a prime location on the Blue River, The Pad is a boutique hostel-hotel hybrid that has a bar, 36 rooms (both shared and private) and 3,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space, including a rooftop deck.

After exploring some of Lake Dillon’s 25 miles of shoreline or playing a round of golf in Silverthorne, check out Peninsula Recreation Area and Frisco Adventure Park only a mile from bustling downtown Frisco. There you’ll find disc golf, hiking and biking trails, and picnic sites for summer and fall excursions or snow tubing, Nordic skiing and a beginner ski and snowboard hill for winter outings. In Frisco, there are various places to meet such as the Summit Community and Senior Center and several makers spaces to explore, including a drop-in art studio, millinery, guitar craftsman, glass blowing studio, and gallery that offers classes.

For live music, head to Dillon Amphitheater in Dillon for lakeside concerts, performances and events and the Frisco Historic Park gazebo and lawn for a weekly Concerts in the Park series in summer. All this likely will result in a thirsty crew, and various craft breweries in the three communities stand ready to assist and host events.